Stockmanship Journal

Monday, February 13, 2012

Doing Away With "Predator/Prey" Thinking

When we hear about
new methods, especially when they claim to result in things which run
counter intuitive to what we have experienced, we are suspicious. I
have to admit that the first time I heard of a low stress cattle
handling seminar I thought it was one of the dumbest things I ever
heard of. Like most people I felt I'm doing as good a job as can be
done and didn't need the “education.” Looking back, I feel that
while my reaction was normal, I really wasn't looking at the larger
picture. That changed when I was forced to attend a Bud Williams
seminar.

What I learned in
Bud's seminar was not what one would expect. I was already doing the
things he was teaching, and in fact doing some things he was not
teaching. I was astounded at how, no matter how he he explained
things, people would have a difficult time understanding the most
simple concepts. The final day of the seminar, rather than go to
lunch with everyone else, I stayed back to talk with Bud. We
discussed some of the things I was doing which worked for me, and why
people seem to have such a hard time understanding how cattle work.
That was in 1992.

Since then I have
been reading every article I can just to see how others are trying to
teach people how to handle cattle, and writing a few articles myself.
Bud liked my views enough he put a link to my main website at the top
of his links
page. After spending the last twenty years studying how people
are trying to teach reduced stress cattle handing I have come to two
conclusions.

First, you cannot
learn to work cattle by sitting in a classroom or watching someone
else demonstrate. Cattle are living, reacting creatures. In order to
learn how to work with them you need to learn how to read them. You
can only do this with closely supervised work sessions, which work
best if you can look at video to see where you made your mistakes,
and where you did things correctly.

Secondly, we must
quit looking at everything as a prey/predator relationship. I
recently read an article by Temple Grandin describing what she called
“passive stalking” and how that can force cattle to come together
as a herd. While it is true, when predators travel up the outside of
a herd, that the herd moves forward, it is totally false that this is
a predator specific relationship. In fact this reaction happens among
individuals within a herd. This reaction is also common in humans as
well as grazing animals, and has more to do with dominance and body
language than the predator/prey relationship.

Most of us observe
cattle by merely looking for what health problems there may be. Since
I was a small child I have always enjoyed just watching cattle for
the sake of watching them. What I discovered as a small boy was that
when one of the more dominant animals are walking through the herd
(whether it is in a pen, or a pasture) will occasionally drop it's
head a bit and change it's posture to a slightly aggressive mode
while walking past some of the other animals. The reaction of the
other animal would be to start up and walk past the more dominant
animal. This reaction is not restricted to grazing animals. Humans
have this same reaction as well, and it is easy to put to the test.

Next
time you are in a crowded environment such as a mall or WalMart, you
can try it for yourself. When you see someone coming in your
direction, slightly increase your walking speed, twist your shoulders
towards the person while shifting your eyes towards them (without
actually turning your head). As you approach your “target” person
they will actually speed up to get past you.

This
concept is probably hard for most people to fathom because it runs
counter nearly everything we have been taught in how to work cattle.
The fact is that most of what we have been taught is exactly the
opposite of what our cattle need to be relaxed and at maximum
production. The proof is revealed in one simple question; If cattle
are a herd animal, then why do they spread out across the pasture?

By
changing our handling methods to ones which cause less stress in our
cattle, we are not training them to act as a herd, but removing the
stress and allowing
them to enjoy herd behavior as nature intended. For more information,
visit my natural cattle handling website.

About Me

I have been involved with cattle since I was a young child. Since 1972 I have spent the majority of the time working ranches and feedlots across the west. I am available for consulting or training in reduced stress cattle handling. If you are following a rotational grazing program I can show you how to make it more efficient by herding and eliminating interior fences. Feel free to comment or contact me with your questions!